Two months after omitting municipalities in Monroe and Cayuga counties from its Lake Ontario flooding disaster area, federal officials have amended the declaration to make them eligible.

President Donald Trump declared the shoreline a disaster area on Nov. 14, which made government agencies in lake shore communities eligible for federal aid to help cover damage to public property and money spent responding to the historic shoreline flooding.

But Monroe and Cayuga, alone among the eight Lake Ontario shoreline counties, were left out of the declaration because flood-related spending in those counties did not reach predetermined threshold amounts.

Monroe's omission, in particular, was surprising, because local governments had spent considerable money responding to months of high water on the lake. Officials later acknowledged that the damage assessment in Monroe had been mysteriously cut short.

Nonetheless, state emergency officials appealed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to revisit the damage assessments in Monroe and Cayuga counties.

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A portion of Edgemere Drive in Greece was closed in June due to flooding on the Lake Ontario shoreline.(Photo: Will Cleveland/@WillCleveland13/Staff photographer)

After field visits and paperwork review, FEMA and other officials announced Friday that the two counties had surpassed their thresholds and were now included.

The new preliminary damage estimate for Monroe County is $3,338,996, compared to the county's population-base threshold of about $2.7 million. Cayuga's estimate is $364,837 versus a threshold of about $289,000.

FEMA customarily reimburses local governments up to 75 percent of eligible costs.

Officials in Rochester, Albany and Washington, D.C. who had lobbied FEMA to amend its declaration were quick to heap praise on the agency. County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo said its action "will help local governments receive fair funding for costs incurred as a result of significant flooding along Lake Ontario last year.

"Monroe County worked diligently with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure that our community was ultimately included in this vital declaration," she said.

New York's two Democratic U.S. senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, were the first to announce FEMA's decision.

"With the addition of Monroe and Cayuga counties, Lake Ontario towns and communities will finally have the federal funds needed to address the damage from the relentless lake flooding," Schumer said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who formally appealed Monroe and Cayuga's exclusion in December, said "Monroe and Cayuga counties will not only be able to make critical repairs to facilities and infrastructure, but improve their resiliency as well."